Features a built in speaker as well
as headphone sockets and a phono jack, auto-noise limiter,
RF gain control, switched tone control. This set was also
made as the S-53U - which allowed AC or DC operation up
to 250 volts.

My personal opinion is that by dropping the
round dial arrangement, Hallicrafters were losing the
competetive design edge they had developed immediately
after 1945 in the 'entry-level' market for general
communications receivers.

The higher-end equipment had to be
differentiated just as did the lower end (think of
Hammarlund with their cast aluminum cabinets or Collins
with the odometer type frequency readout). The Loewy
design theme for the S-38 family was found in modified
form on many of Halligan's products - sadly, the S-53
doesn't appear to exhibit any of them.